Barnabas Fund, 24 April 2019
Christians including a US woman and an Indian man who were training local pastors at a local church have been detained by police in Nepal.
The police arrested 2 Nepali Christians, 2 foreign nationals and their Nepali driver on 23 April, accusing them of “luring conversions” to Christianity, and detained them overnight.
The two Nepali Christians and Indian national await a hearing on Sunday 28 April facing charges under the new “anti-conversion” law.
The group were running training courses for pastors, but police claimed that they were trying to lure people into Christianity by offering medical care and money.
A new law in force in Nepal since September 2018 makes it an offence to “involve or encourage in conversion of religion”, meaning that any public Christian activity is potentially illegal.